Date of Award
5-1-2015
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Behavior Analysis and Therapy
First Advisor
Dixon, Mark
Abstract
Autism is a neurological disorder which impairs the individual's social interactions and communication. Such impairments lead to deficits in learning which accumulate over time. Finding effective and efficient technologies to teach children with autism helps to minimize deficits and teach children new skills to be independent learners. There is previous research on technologies such as discrete trail training (DTT), antecedent based interventions, and consequence based interventions which have to be shown to be effective, however, more research is needed to find more cost effective and efficient procedures.. The PEAK Stimulus Equivalence Training Module seeks to teach children with Autism in a concise easy to follow manual. Past research has shown stimulus equivalence to not only effectively teach children with autism novel skills, but also has shown the emergence of untrained relations. The present study uses the PEAK module with three boys with autism, between the ages of 6 and 8, to teach novel stimuli including, planets, holidays, and sports teams and to test for the emergence of untrained relations. Results showed that the all participants demonstrated derived relations. Implications for future research are discussed.
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